The Cubs bumping up to the luxury tax threshold which Ownership refuses to surpass, the Cubs have to go to battle with the guys they have under contract.
The lack of flexibility and the vacuum of AAA talent has painted the Cubs front office into a corner.
How trapped are they?
This year, very.
Next year?
The following contracts are set to fall off the books for 2020:
Hamels SP $20 million
Zobrist IN $12 million
Chisek RP $6.5 million
Kintzler RP $5 million
A total of $43.5 million will be freed up next season.
Is that a lot?
Probably not.
If you add in the exit of Joe Maddon's $6 million salary, the net figure probably goes up to $48.5 million.
The problem is that the Cubs have been in a cycle of constantly rebuilding their pitching staff because the Epstein-McLeod scouting machine has failed to draft and develop a quality starting pitcher. They don't have the pitching prospects to make veteran trades so they continually have to overpay for relief pitchers. This off-season the Cubs had to lurk around the discount bin to land Brach.With Morrow's return uncertain, there seems to be the likelihood of a closer-by-committee bullpen.
